Posted by:
anybody
(
)
Date: August 02, 2018 07:29PM
And now for something completely different...
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-45030075"Transgender women should be allowed to remain Freemasons if they joined as men, the largest UK lodge has said.
Expelling masons for transitioning was "unlawful discrimination", the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) warned.
Women who transition to become men should also be allowed to join, its new gender reassignment policy states.
The guidance document says that a Freemason's gender reassignment should be "treated with the utmost compassion and sensitivity".
Irrespective of gender identity, the UGLE's 200,000 members will still formally be referred to as "brothers", the document says.
But informally they should be addressed "by the name and title he/she has chosen".
It warns that using a mason's transition as a reason for excluding them from a men-only lodge would be "unlawful discrimination and so could never constitute sufficient cause".
The document issued to 7,000 lodges across the country, says: "If a Freemason who is a member of UGLE wishes to change gender and become a woman, we expect that the Freemason would receive the full support of their brethren.""